By Tim Ramadan ( The Guardian )- Around three months have passed since the Syrian Democratic Forces launched a military operation to wrest back control of Raqqa from Islamic State. These forces are backed directly by the US-led international coalition, and they have so far succeeded in...

Her bruised eyes still swollen shut, Buthaina Muhammad Mansour, believed to be four or five, doesn't yet know that her parents, five siblings and uncle were killed when an air strike flattened their home in Yemen's capital. Despite concussion and skull fractures, doctors think Buthaina will...

Syrian Kurdish authorities on Saturday began laying the groundwork for the first local elections in the federal system they are establishing in the country's north, an official told AFP. Hadiya Youssef, co-chair of the federal system's constituent assembly, said three rounds of elections...

 Iraqi forces are about to take full control of Tal Afar, Daesh (ISIS)'s stronghold in northwestern Iraq, in a swift campaign against the outnumbered, exhausted militants, an Iraqi military spokesman said Saturday. The quick collapse of Daesh in Tal Afar, a breeding ground for extremist...